1. Field of the Invention
A grocery cart detection mechanism and reward system where each grocery cart is equipped with an embedded chip that is read by a radio frequency control unit located in-store and/or in a store parking lot to keep track of cart use and provide a reward system to patrons for return of a cart to the store or to a designated cart storage area, and further allows for tracking cart movement and location utilizing a mobile unit.
2. Prior Art
The invention is in an electronic system for tracking, counting and locating shopping carts as are used in grocery or hardware stores or like commercial enterprises, and provides a reward and as an incentive for encouraging shoppers to return their carts into the store or to a designated cart storage location. Which incentive system also encourages a shopper to return to again shop at the commercial enterprise.
While electronic monitoring and locating systems for keeping track of shopping carts are certainly not new such have generally been directed to protecting shopping carts from theft and/or removal from the commercial enterprise premises to include cart wheel locking systems, alarms and the like. None, however, have involved the combination of a radio frequency detection and locating system in combination with a customer reward system that is like that of the invention.
Removal of shopping carts from their intended use area within and without a commercial enterprise has long been of great concern and their location and recovery has constituted a significant expense. Examples of wheel locking and disabling arrangements are found in a number of U.S. Patents. For example, patents to Lace, U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,144; to Oakley, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,691; to Harris et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,412; to DiPaolo, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,106; to Wolfe, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,.182; to Moreno, U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,290; to Goldstein, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,880; and to Snedeker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,075, show only a few of a large number of patents concerned with prohibiting cart removal by providing electronic wheel locking and disabling systems. Electronic wheel locking systems, alarm systems for alerting store personnel to a removal of a cart from a controlled area are also shown in U.S. Patents to Maclntrye, U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,550 and to Zelda, U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,844, and cart dispensing systems are shown in a number of patents, for example, U.S. Patents to Dipaolo, et. Al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,316; to Allent et. Al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,006; to Parker, et. Al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,962 and to Steier et. Al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,394.945. None of which wheel braking or alarm system patents, however, have involved radio frequency operated remotely to provide for cart locating, monitoring and control systems that function with a customer reward system that rewards patrons for returning their carts to a designated area to both saving the enterprise money and to encourage return shopping.
Electronic sensing of cart movement in and out of a controlled area by sensing a carts metal mass is shown in a U.S. Patent to Thorsen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,274, and a U.S. Patent to Uager, U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,495 shows a utilization of a photo diodes for sensing cart travel through a light beam. Unlike these arrangement, the invention utilizes an active radio transmitter that interrogates a chip mounted onto a cart, preferably as part of a placard that is secured onto the cart side and contain individual cart information to provide for monitoring cart use and for scheduling maintenance, as well as for locating the cart by an interrogation system if it is removed from the premises. This cart information gathering and analysis capability of the invention is additional to its primary object of providing a reward to customers for their return of a cart to an identified area within or without the commercial or retail establishment. Accordingly, while devices that provide for active radio monitoring of cart location are shown in U.S. Patents to Havens, U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,544 and to Umanoff, U.S. Pat. No. 3,157,871, such have been for cart locating and retrieval only and have not included nor provided a reward system for cart return. Further, while trolley or cart return reward systems are shown in two U.S. Patents to Gillet, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,424,393 and 4,549,182 and in a U.S. Patent to Eisermann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,347, these reward systems do not provide the simple, yet versatile, electronic sensing, command and control system like that of the invention for use with an accurate and reliable client reward system.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart detection apparatus and patron reward system for sensing and identifying a shopping cart return to a cart collection station that will electronically log in the cart and award a ticket, coupon, or the like, as a patron reward for returning the cart.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart detection apparatus and patron reward system that includes at least one or more radio frequency control units located in or adjacent to a commercial establishment, the control unit or units each to send out an interrogation signal to a receiver unit on the cart consisting of a chip embedded inside a placard, or the like, attached to a shopping cart to identify and record the individual cart identification, keeping a running inventory of cart use for scheduling maintenance, and to alert the merchant if cart has not been returned.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart detection apparatus and patron reward system where low and high power reader units are provided, with a low power unit located in an installation that a cart entering a cart collection area passes closely by, for reading the individual cart identification for activating the patron reward, and with a higher power unit functioning as a long range receiver located proximate to a store entrance to read individual identifications of cart exiting the establishment to collect cart inventory data.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart detection system that is capable of detecting the direction of cart travel out of or into a cart depository located on a cart owners premises and verifying that the direction of cart return is proper to warrant issuance of a reward to that patron for a cart return in the form of a ticket, or the like, and prohibiting such award when the cart is not being returned from a bonafide use.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide, with a shopping cart detection system, a cart mounted receiver unit that, when used with a close proximity radio frequency reader unit does not require a power source to respond to an interrogation signal generated by a control unit to provide to the control unit, location, service, and status information for cart control and to operate the patron reward system, but can include a power source, such as a long life lithium type battery, where a longer range cart sensing is required such as to locate a cart as has been removed from the establishment premises.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart detection system that is simple and relatively inexpensive to install and will reliably provide data for shopping cart inventory control, cart location information, as well as, cart usage data for use in planned cart service and maintenance, that is used with a customer reward system whereby, for the reward, a customer is encouraged to return a cart to a drop-off location in a cart owner""s establishment or on their premises to receive a ticket, or the like, giving the shopper something of value for their cooperation and to encourage them to return to the establishment and shop.
The shopping at detection apparatus of the invention includes at least one radio frequency control unit that can be installed within or without a commercial establishment and is connected to a standard power source, or, if the control unit is located in a parking lot of that establishment, is battery or solar powered, and can either be fixed or portable. The control unit or units, also identified as control interface is to interrogate a receiver unit that is preferably a chip that is embedded in a placard, or the like, that is attached to a shopping cart. The control unit may be low power to operate in proximity to the receiver unit as when the can is pushed by the control unit in a cart collection area, or may be higher power to provide for an interrogation of carts as they leave the establishment for maintaining cart inventory control, with the control unit or units to transmit individual cart data as receiver from its interrogation of the receiver unit to an interface that is linked, for example, to a computer or on board micro processor. Cart data, such as location, use history, and the like, is thereby provided for use in planing cart preventative maintenance, repair and/or replacement or relocation, and, of course, for directing the awarding of incentives, such as a ticket, coupon, or the like, to the person bringing the cart to a return area on the premises. Further, using a portable control unit as, for example, a unit transmitting from a vehicle that searches for lost and misplaced carts, can send an interrogation signal to a receiver unit of such cart that, upon receipt of the interrogation signal, can respond to provide a signal to the portable unit for locating that cart. To facilitate such cart location, the cart can include a signaling arrangement, such as a flashing light, audio signal, or the like to alert the mobile control unit operator to the presence of a cart and to lead that operator to the cart. With the portable control unit itself provided with an alarm arrangement for alerting the vehicle operator of a near proximity to such cart. While the receiver unit does not require a power source to respond to an interrogation signal delivered from a control unit in near proximity thereto, when such control unit is not in close proximity, to allow the receiver unit to signal its presence, a power source, such as a lithium type battery, or the like, may be included with the receiver unit. The control unit can employ, as its sensing component, a single reader module that can sense a cart passing across or through a sensor barrier, and such sensor barrier may be a sensor generating a radio frequency signal, with cart passage to activate a reader module or unit that then interrogates the receiver unit as by transmitting a radio frequency signal that the receiver unit responds to by transmitting individual cart information to include the cart identification. This information is then passed by the reader module though a control interface and to a communications interface that can be a computer, micro processor, or the like. The reader module can be a pair of sensors each generating a beam, such as an infra red beam, where, to provide an interrogation and counting signal, a first sensor beam must be broken followed by a second sensor beam to prove out a proper direction of cart passage into a car return area, thereby precluding a cart from being counted should it be pulled back out of that cart return area. To further provide for a counting of carts as are legitimately returned before awarding a ticket, coupon, or like reward, to the person returning the cart, a timer or timing circuit may be employed with the control interface that must xe2x80x9ctime outxe2x80x9d for the control interface to credit a cart return as legitimate, and provide a reward.
With the shopping cad detection and reward system of the invention, by a placement of sensors having a longer range capability than be the proximity sensors of the reader module on establishment exits, the establishment can determine and keep a running inventory total of the number of carts that are in the establishment and on the establishment parking lot to help to determine when an employee or employees need to retrieve carts from that lot. To insure that shoppers entering the establishment will have a cart available to them. The invention further facilitates the maintaining of an accurate cart inventory, giving an establishment management data as to the number of carts as are actually used, providing data with which to forecast the number of carts as are needed on particular days and even time of day, and to alert the merchant when and which carts are missing.